Still dont think either will sign. But if Lucas does, there is no way he would come in as a kid from another continent and walk straight into the team ahead of Nani or Young. And one of that front 5 must be dropped for a CM.

I don't think it leaves us with too many options in midfield. It leaves us with too many options for the front four. Kagawa isn't a central midfielder, meaning the formation in the OP either has a front five and a single man in midfield or plays Kagawa where he shouldn't be.

I would guess that the rumoured pursuits of Lucas and RVP are on an 'either / or' basis, with the notion that both would add a lot of quality to our front four. Rooney's versatility means we could add Lucas and use Rooney mainly as a centre forward, or add Van Persie and use Rooney in a deeper (or wider) role.

I think van persie wil lbe used to take the burden off Rooney. And considering the amount of games we play per season and Sir Alex`s tendency to alter the formation from game to game i could see games where Rooney and van persie would play together but also games where it could be any one of Rooney, van persie, Chicha, Welbeck or even Kiko coming in.

The same can be said for midfield, depending on the formation and opposition. No way are we going to forget about Ando, Carrick, Cleverley and of course Scholesy. And also we`ll see Powell, Petrucci and Lingaard get their share of action.

We also then have Kagawa who can play behind the front one/two and also operate on the flanks leaving us with Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, Young and lucas.

Everyone gets a look in

That`s how i see it anyway. I`d rather have too much talent than not enough.

SgtBoscoBaracus

I'd rather have plenty of talent to choose from, but ideally spread across the team. It's surely better to have e.g. 8 excellent players competing for the front 4 places and 4-5 competing for two places in midfield than 10 competing for the front 4 and 3-4 competing for midfield.

Red Russian (U4715)

I see what you`re saying but i think Sir Alex has a lot, maybe arguably too much, of faith in the central players we have.

As i said previously he`ll use Kagawa, Scholes, Ando, Carrick and more likely than not Rooney and Jones in CM roles but also blood the likes of Powell, who we can`t really gauge yet, and promote Petrucci and Lingaard. He`s as good as hinted at that in his pro-glazer interview on the bbc website this morning.

RVP will not come, Lucas however, might.

It`s a very much hypothetical article anyway i think.

Can`t really say much on either. Plusses and minuses pointing towards boths potential deals.

Rvp and Hundelaar played together in the euros, both are quite stationary. Rooney has better movement than both of them, espesially huntelaar, but I doubt we'll play in a 4-1-1-2-2 formation. Carrick can't do all that work, say he meets a 4-3-3 then he'll have problems. we'll have both kagawa and rooney coming deep if we gonna have this lineup..


not only can we get rvp cheap, this only illustrates that ferguson dont believe we have a good enough striker but for rooney.

i get why we want lucas, not is he only probably the next big thing coming through, he's pace and technique is far superior young's.. Also young do indeed have no real competition on the left winger, as nani and valencia is more of a right wingers

I agree with your opinions on the huntelaar/rvp combination. But then i do not rate huntelaar one iota.

But to say Sir Alex is trying to bring in rvp because he has no faith in Chicha, Welbeck and even Kiko and Berba isn`t right.

He just sees the leagues top goalscorer last season going for cheap.

The "V" word is what governs this one as much as anything, and i agree with him.

i doubt very much we will get van persie

SgtBoscoBaracus

He pretty much stated at a press conference last week that Kagawa needs to play in a more advanced role. I can't see him in midfield in a 4-4-2 unless there is a spectacular injury crisis.

Having said that, Fergie has often surprised me with his choices and he tends to make the right calls. Perhaps he is preparing to surprise us with a revolutionary 4-1-5 formation with a hard working and fluid front five...

Depends on if the mood takes him i guess.......

It sounds mad, but I guess the preferred starting line up for Spain in the Euros wasn't a million miles from this... albeit the five were mainly midfielders rather than forwards.

Basically if we sign Van Persie, Kagawa will have to play out of position!?